Being Healthy Pays Off

When one hears the word obesity thoughts that may come to mind are overweight, big, or even unhealthy. “Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of greater than 30” (Obesity).

Anyone any age can be obese. The good part is that it is reversible and there are many ways you can not be obese anymore. Obesity can happen to anyone for many reasons and it can be reversed many different ways. More and more Americans are becoming obese every single day. “More than half of Americans are overweight, including at least 1 in 5 children. Nearly one third are obese” (Wooten). It is also becoming more and more popular for children to be obese. Childhood obesity is a serious and common disease that is increasingly becoming more popular. Adults need to be role models toward their children and educate them about obesity. It is only getting worse and more common and it is a very serious disease that has a lot of negative effects that come along with it.

Some parents or people do not understand why or how their children become obese. There are many explanations for this. One can simply be consuming too much food into one’s body.

Today's culture promotes eating habits that contribute to obesity. People may serve large portions and foods that are most readily available instead of choosing foods that are most nutritious. Cooking with butter, chocolate and other high-caloric foods is a normal part of the American diet. Also, food is often used as a reward in this country. Children are treated to sweets for cleaning their room, and the team is taken for pizza or ice cream after the game. Seldom is eating only when hunger is present (What Causes Obesity?).

Also not exercising is an issue. If one does not get any exercise the fatty acids from the food consumed just sits in the stomach and builds up more fat. Parents need to encourage their children to get involved in extracurricular activities. Luckily, schools have Physical Education classes that students take part in. However, some schools don’t require their students to participate in their P.E. classes as much as other schools. For example, one school may require their students to attend P.E. class everyday for a half hour or more, and another school may require a half hour of P.E only twice a week. However, the senate passed a bill this past year that required Florida elementary school students to have 30 minutes of continuous exercise daily (The Associated Press). Every school should be doing this; every little bit will make a difference. Also, parents need to know that when their children sit in front of the TV or play video games that is not being active. A parent should have a limit on watching TV or playing video games to make sure their son or daughter is getting active. Adults need to get their kids up and go outside and play around with them. Also getting them involved in any sports is good exercise. This truly is not a difficult thing to do as a parent.

One may also blame society for the increasing amount of people who are obese. The amount of different fast food restaurants in America is outrageous. “Ronald McDonald, the popular and supposedly cute clown that advertises McDonald's happy meals for children is recognized by about 96% of all American school-aged children” (Vanwagner). When one hears that comment is almost disturbing. To find out that children may look up to this character when it has no good value at all is a shame. Ronald McDonald represents basically unhealthiness, which is not a character that parents should want their children to look up to. Some also argue that maybe if there were healthy fast food restaurants it would help decrease the number of obese children and adults in America. However, many fast food restaurants offer healthy food choices to choose from. For example, McDonald’s offers a couple of different salads, a yogurt cup with fruit in it, apple slices with low fat caramel dip, and reduced fat ice cream, just to name a few. Yes, this is helping but it is still not good enough. The numbers of obese children are only growing, more needs to be done.

There are many ways adults can make sure their children do not become obese or even reverse their child’s obesity. Parents are the ones who cook the food and decide what their children eat, so this is where small changes can be made. When going to the grocery store parent’s need to choose their food products wisely. They should buy more fruits and vegetables instead of per se convenience foods that have a lot of fat in it. Also many organic foods are very nutritional for the body and do not contain any preservatives that are bad for the body. Parents should also stay away from sweetened drinks even because there really is no nutritional value to them what so ever. Also parents should limit the times they eat out at restaurant or even go to a fast food restaurant. Doing all of these things would be a good